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Abstract

A corpus exploration of huidiglik. In tandem with Van Huyssteen (2018a), this article examines the current usage of the word huidiglik (‘currently’) (an alleged Anglicism), together with other associated words (e.g. its base, huidig ‘current’). Based on a comprehensive literature review, Van Huyssteen (2018a) concludes that apart from stylistic preferences, none of the linguistic arguments against huidiglik holds water. In this article, a corpus exploration of some of the issues pertaining to huidiglik is undertaken. Based on evidence from a large variety of corpora, we conclude that huidiglik has become well-established in Afrikaans over the past four decades, both in formal texts and informal chat language. Since it does not displace any of its often-prescribed synonyms (like tans, deesdae, or teenswoordig), it confirms that arguments for its status as an Anglicism is rather thin. Although the inflected form huidige is mostly used as prenominal adjective, its uninflected form is also used with noticeable frequency as adverb and predicative adjective. Huidiglik, however, is used almost exclusively as adverb, rarely as inflected attributive adjective, but never as predicative adjective. Lastly, it is shown that adverbialising ⋅lik occurs with high frequency in Afrikaans, but it is not very productive. In addition, it is illustrated that ⋅ig⋅lik is an entrenched suffix pairing.